More advice for voters on those mile-long ballots

Man, are you guys fired up about those long ballots we're all facing on Nov. 6. I love the enthusiasm. Today's column on how to save time in the voting booth prompted lots of responses and some questions. So, here are a few more things you might want to know:

Dear Beth...well...I mailed my absentee vote in...with a single stamp...was I surprised to find out in your article on amendments...I needed extra postage!! It hasn't been returned. What will happen to my vote??? I did vote no on all amendments!!! And my Presidential vote is most important to me!!! Thoughts please...Patty

Patty, have no fear. If your ballot hasn't been returned, chances are the postal service took pity on you and delivered your vote to the Supervisor of Elections office anyway. Actually, most of the counties have a deal with the post office to make sure no ballot gets left behind for insufficient postage. If you are concerned about your ballot, you can call the supervisor for your county and verify that the ballot was received. Some counties, such as Orange, allow voters to do this online.

Dear Beth, How many issues left blank on a ballot will invalidate that ballot? Can one vote only on the presidential question, leaving the other choices undecided, and the vote still be counted? Tom

Great question, Tom. Here's the official rule: voters are free to choose to vote on however many or however few questions they want on their ballot. In other words, if they vote for Rosanne Barr for president (yes, that name really appears on the ballot) and leave the rest of the pages blank ... it doesn't matter. The vote for Barr will be counted. That's why you can expect to see the turnout for the presidential race to be far higher than the turnout for, say, the next soil and water district rep. Back in 2000 (dare I dredge up the elections horror of that year) we learned there's a name for this: under votes. However, I say if you're going to take the time to vote, you should vote on EVERYTHING. All it takes is a few minutes of prep to figure out which questions or candidates deserve your vote.

Dear Beth, You are spot on, as usual, with your observations about voting. I requested an absentee ballot and was surprised at how long it took me to fill it out. I mailed my ballot today and hope it will be counted. I can't imagine voting in an actual polling place as I would expect voting to take a long time thus the lines to be exceedingly long. I hope people don't give up and leave due to long lines. Jack